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I meet Owners all the time who are worried that they have a long established dental plan that provides cover for expensive treatments on a capitation basis - here's a typical example:
"Something I’m working on at the moment is my full cover plan (inclusive of every single thing) which I closed 5 years ago but I have reached the end of my tether with.
Our ethos is always to provide patients with the best treatment in one place and over the past 5 years I’ve bought in a number of dentists with specialist interests (DWSI) in endo, perio, implants, oral surgery.
I expect all my GDP associates to refer their patients to see these DWSI to get the best possible outcome.
A prime example was today my DWSI in endo spent 2 hours (at a chargeable rate of £400 an hour) doing a complicated molar endo with a microscope and a CBCT. This is before a crown.
That patient paid £480 a year for their plan.
We are finding more and more this is untenable with the plan. If we don’t internally refer, the patient loses out and if we do refer, the practitioners and the practice really loses out.
I need to strike a balance here. We exist to provide clinical excellence however we are also a business. I like the income from plan but should I be brave and ditch it??"
My response:
"I quote Michael Gerber of The E-Myth Revisited.
The purpose of a business is to solve the customer's problem;
The objective of a business is to make a profit.
If you solve problems and don’t make a profit - you go out of business and then nobody else gets a solution;
If you make a profit and don’t solve problems, you are a charlatan (i.e. like many water companies it would seem);
If you solve problems and make a realistic profit - it is honest, decent, ethical and you occupy the moral high ground.
You are currently in category 1 above.
You have to be in category 3 above.
You have to change the T’s and C’s of the plan and then accept that those who do not convert are no longer the right fit for your business."
Does this apply to you as well?
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